This Winter was wet and is now dry – it has been sometimes cold but the overwhelming feeling is it is another mild winter – famous last words, as Spring is not yet with us and it can still snow and freeze well into April………
Fog – The flood plain of the River Ouse – ideal for fog, mist and interesting skies…………
Winter has continued to offer amazing cloudscapes. As we head into the Christmas season and the year end I would reflect on a year of cloudscapes, the sheer number being notable.
The colours that attract me are the greys and pinks. And of course the blues are often stunning in contrast.
Nature has offered much in 2022 while winter never dissappoints.
In many of my cloudscapes the trees provide a secondary role, often in silhouette. Winter offers a chance to examine the tangle of branches bare of their leaves.
And so the year ends and I wish you all peace.
Harlech Castle is located high above the seashore overlooking Cardigan Bay or Bae Ceredigion.
With a square footprint and large round corner towers it is just how a child might imagine a castle. The simplicity of its lines ring true.
Lucky for us the post English Civil War orders that saw many a fine castle “slighted”, to prevent their use by Royalists, failed at Harlech. So it is a complete castle with only parts of the interior buildings robbed out or demolished.
Even in the midst of winter some plants are already preparing for spring and summer.
And yet it is still a time of its own like admiring the bare branches of trees.
And some trees and shrubs are already in flower – of the winter kind.
Amazing Nature!
Well I have had a quick canter back through my postings of 2021. I managed to publish over 100 which was a surprise.
I have tried to intermix one off posts with some that are serials.
“Intermission” was my idea of simply taking a break – 11 of them so about one a month. Most are nothing to do with wargames although a few touched on history.
The “Painting Pedestal” was my way of recording the fact that I was actually completing figures and basing them up. They included:
King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia 1859
French Infantry 1848
Garibaldi Red and Blue Shirts 1848
Bologna Volunteers 1859
2020 ended with Dark Ages, Vikings and Saxons in my mind, but already the seeds of a new project had rooted. So 2021 was all about the Wars of Italian Unification 1848 and 1859.
And it stayed that way till a chance purchase of an old small A5 rulebook on WW2 took me off to a side project.
At the same time I was sorely tempted to pursue another side project – scifi based.
Fortunately that has stalled and I can feel my side project on WW2 is probably reaching its natural conclusion.
So what does 2022 offer?
I think I will return to 1848/1859 Italian Unification Wars.
We shall see.
Whatever 2022 brings you – merry christmas and may all your wargame wishes come true!
Thank you for visiting the Wargaming Erratic Blog.
Lorenzo VII
The Wargaming Erratic 